China's Huawei eyes $3bn revenues from Middle East

Huawei, China's biggest telecoms equipment supplier, is targeting about $3bn in revenues from the Middle East this year, a senior official has said. The target, which represents about 10 percent of the group's overall revenue goal was announced by Tony Wong, chief technical officer for the Middle East in an interview with Zawya Dow Jones. He was quoted as saying income will be boosted by infrastructure demand in the region. Wong said Huawei is implementing fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) technology to around 150,000 homes in Qatar for Qatar Telecom (Qtel). He added that Saudi Arabia is one of the largest contributors to Huawei's Middle East operations, as the kingdom has about 25 million people and a very high GDP. In 2010, income from Huawei's business in the Middle East reached about $2.75bn, said Wong. Huawei has been manufacturing affordable smartphones since 2010, but the Chinese manufacturer does not market smartphones under its own name. It is the second-largest supplier of mobile telecommunications infrastructure equipment in the world after Ericsson. In August, UAE telecoms giant Etisalat signed a memorandum of understanding with  Huawei International to bolster its business across Africa and Asia. The agreement will see the two firms work together on network management, cloud computing and applications across Etisalat’s 18-country portfolio, the Abu Dhabi-based telco said in a statement.